Ron Elgin may be one of the luckiest people who ever lived, and he knows it. He has been fortunate to be surrounded by smart people with brilliant ideas, including his business partner, David Syferd, who first came up with the idea of setting up his own ad agency. Huckster tells the story of that agency from the womb to the grave and Ron’s role in its success. Established in 1981, for thirty years Elgin Syferd was a powerful advertising agency in the Pacific Northwest. Ron was also lucky or smart enough to marry “Beautiful Bonnie” so she could keep him in line when she needed to, hire people smarter than him, and have enough common sense not to hire jerks.
Fortunately for us, Ron was also smart enough to write this book and do it well. He didn’t want to write a boring “How To” book, so he wrote this collection of stories about the history of his advertising agency, full of words of wisdom about running a business, and also lots of funny stories that would make anyone laugh. regardless of any interest in advertising.
The story begins with Dave first suggesting to Ron that they start an agency, saying, “Wouldn’t it be great if we could have a company that was always as nice as I was and you tried to be?” I suspect that Ron is actually very nice, but he won’t give himself credit for it. Despite that, and his luck aside, it’s clear that he worked very hard to make Elgin Syferd a success from the start. In fact, he worked hard from a very young age. As he tells us:
“I grew up living in a low-income housing project in Seattle that probably played a big part in my lifelong thirst for wealth. As a kid, I helped our family where I could by collecting and selling bottles of beer from the neighbors.and eventually graduated to killing rats at the Fisher Flour Mill for fifty cents apiece.I got my first hourly jobs while I was in high school.The two longest lasting were the night shift on the railroad as a yard clerk (also aptly called “mudhoppers”) and after school at a gas station getting gas and changing oil.”
From there, Ron went to college, interned at a successful advertising agency, served time in the military during the Vietnam War, returned to advertising, and eventually co-founded Elgin Syferd, bringing a wealth of experience with him. , along with some arrogance, a tender heart, and a great sense of humor.
The stories Ron shares about advertising are that rare mix of true entertainment and education. For example, I loved the story about the plane ad that I was convinced was great. The ad had an image of a plane taking off and landing; unfortunately, the customer told him that the plane looked like it was crashing. Unwilling to change it, Ron went to the airport to show the ad to the passengers on the plane and get their reactions. When he finished, a man threatened to kick his ass if he didn’t stop scaring people and Ron ended up getting arrested by airport security. The lesson: never be too arrogant to listen to others.
I don’t want to rob you of the pleasure of laughing at the many other antics of Ron and his colleagues, but if you’re looking to learn something by reading this book, Ron sums up their stories with many key points, such as “There are a million ways to solve a particular problem. “, “Doing a good job is not enough to keep good clients. Constant care, contact, cultivation and asking the right questions are essential” and “If an employee shows reluctance to be replaced in any part of the agency’s business , maybe it’s time to reassess that person’s future with the company.” Some of these lessons are common sense, some are like lightbulbs that went off for Ron, and some were hard-learned lessons from mistakes he made.
Ron is serious about his business, but he doesn’t mind finding the humor in everything, and you’ll only have to read this book to believe the crazy clients and co-workers he often deals with. One client invented a shield to prevent brain cancer from cell phones, and another decided to breastfeed his child during a presentation. Then there was the woman dying of cancer who wanted to work for the ad agency, without revealing her full schedule, and you’ll never forget Ron’s client and friend who thought he was God. There were also a lot of good times at the ad agency: golf outings, boat parties, and some fun business trips where occasionally Ron or a colleague had too many drinks. I swear if he didn’t know better, he would have thought that NBC’s The Office writers visited Ron’s agency to get material.
Despite everything, Ron rarely got into trouble, except with his wife. In reality, Beautiful Bonnie sometimes got Ron into trouble, such as when she decided during a trip to the USSR to help illegally buy baby formula for Jewish mothers, which could have resulted in the pair being sent to a gulag. Still, Ron kept going on trips with her, to China, Bangkok, Singapore, and the Kentucky Derby, all told in the book, and all fun.
Despite the often self-deprecating humor in these pages, I really appreciated the honesty Ron shows about his business, the mistakes he made, what he learned, and the general sense of goodwill about work and life that he presents. Anyone in the business will appreciate the stories and lessons. People involved in or seeking a career in advertising will especially enjoy this book; they will even find it revealing and illuminating about how the world of advertising works. Huckster would make a perfect gift for anyone about to enter the business world, as well as anyone who loves a good story.
